Conventional search applications operating in a networked computer environment such as the World Wide Web and client-device search applications operating in an individual computer can provide search results in response to entry of a user's search query. In many instances, the search results are ranked in accordance with the search application's scoring or ranking system or method. For example, conventional search applications score or rank articles of a search result for a particular query by the number of times a keyword or particular word or phrase appears in each article in the search results.
Users generate and access a large number of articles, such as e-mails, web pages, word processing documents, spreadsheet documents, instant messenger messages, and presentation documents, using a client device, such as a personal computer, personal digital assistant, or mobile phone. Some articles are stored on one or more storage devices coupled to, accessible by, or otherwise associated with the client device(s). Users sometimes wish to search the storage device(s) for articles.
If a search application returns more than one search result in response to a search query, the search results may be displayed as a list of article identifiers associated with the search results. An article identifier may be, for example, a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), a file name, a link, an icon, a path for a local file, or anything else that identifies an article. A user may browse and visit a web page associated with one or more of the search results to evaluate whether the web page is relevant to the user's search query. For example, a user may manipulate a mouse or another input device and “click” on an article identifier to view a web page associated with the search result. In many instances, the user will browse and visit several web pages provided in the search result, clicking on article identifiers associated with each of the several web pages to access various web pages associated with the search results before locating useful or relevant information to address the user's search query.
Typically, search results for a particular search query on a network search engine are from online data sources accessible via a network such as the Internet. If a particular user does not have access to a network such as the Internet, i.e. the user is working offline, obtaining search results may be limited to previously cached web pages stored by an Internet browser program. To obtain broader search results from the network, the user would have to wait to access the network, i.e. go online, and initiate the search query so that online data sources can be accessed via the network. Obtaining search results in the above manner can be time consuming and cumbersome since the user has to wait to access a network, which may not always be practical.
Users may generate and access a large number of articles, such as e-mails, web pages, word processing documents, spreadsheet documents, instant messenger messages, and presentation documents, using a client device, such as a personal computer, personal digital assistant, or mobile phone. Some articles are stored on a storage device associated with the client device. Users sometimes wish to search the storage device for articles. Some conventional client-device search applications can be slow to process search results including articles stored on a client-side device.